Sudden impact

Saturday

Pata Hlinkova leaves Spring Hill in a month, to return to her native Slovakia.

Veteran tennis coach Rick Brackney says she’ll go back as the school’s best in the sport.

Hlinkova, set to play in Monday’s Region 6-Large Class singles semifinals Monday at Centennial, went undefeated through the regular season and recently won the District 11 championship after arriving in school last fall as a foreign exchange student.

“To win District 11 — you’re talking about a district that has produced state champions year in and year out,” Brackney said. “I’ve been doing this for 14 years; historically, we haven’t been very good. For her to win this district is astronomical and amazing for Spring Hill.”

Hlinkova arrived just before the beginning of the school year from Trnava — a city of about 70,000, located in the western part of the Central European country — as the first foreign exchange student hosted by Heather and Darrell Jacobs. An assistant teacher at Spring Hill, Heather knew that host families were in demand.

“We knew some folks had had some positive experiences with it, so we thought we’d try it,” Darrell said.

Among the interests Hlinkova had indicated prior to her arrival were tennis.

“I started playing at the age of 7,” she said. “So I’ve played a long time — 18 years. We don’t have sports in the high schools there, though. I played at the local (sports) academy.”

Brackney was impressed immediately during a fall workout with Hlinkova.

“I hit with her for about 10 minutes and I said ‘congratulations, you’re the best player in the history of Spring Hill High School’,” he recalled. “I’ve seen Brentwood, Ravenwood, Franklin players hit like that, but I hadn’t seen anybody hit like that for a long time, even going back to coaching at Knoxville West. I coached a couple of doubles state champions, a singles state champion, and she’s as good as any of them. I didn’t expect to see that at Spring Hill.

“She could play No. 1 for anybody in our district. She’s very consistent. She’s really got good ground strokes, and she’s able to get to balls you don’t think she can get to, so she continues points longer than most players can.”

Taking a 16-0 mark into Monday’s region semifinals against Hume-Fogg’s Jessica Shields, Hlinkova is expected to face Brentwood’s Hamsa Javagal in the finals with a state tournament berth on the line. Hlinkova has won both previous matches against Javagal.

“We really knew nothing about tennis before Pata came along,” Jacobs said. “She’s taught us what we know. But when I see her play, you can tell she’s comfortable on the court. She knows what she’s doing.”

Her athletic success has helped add to her positive exchange experience.

“I always wanted to exchange,” she said. “It was my dream to learn another culture, learn to speak good English, and I like traveling a lot.

“I didn’t come with any expectations, because I didn’t want to be disappointed. But it’s been good.”

And Hlinkova has a chance to make a mark at her soon-to-be former school.

“This means a lot. It’s a really good feeling,” she said. “I still can’t believe this is happening, that I won district. But my goal is to go to the region finals and do my best.”

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